Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding its grocery pickup service to eight new cities nationwide, adding to the five pilot cities already in place.

The service will now be available at select stores in Atlanta, Charlotte and Fayetteville, N C, Salt Lake City and Ogden, UT, Nashville, Tucson, AZ, and Colorado Springs, CO.

Wal-Mart
WMT, -0.37%
began testing a grocery pickup service in Denver earlier this year as part of a pilot program that started with grocery delivery service in Sept. 2013. The pickup service was also added to stores in San Jose, CA, Bentonville, AR, Phoenix, and Huntsville, AL.

To use the service, customers select the items they want online and the pickup time, then arrive at the designated area of their local store where a Wal-Mart associate will load the purchases into the customer’s car. This is a free service, and is available the same day if orders are placed by 10 a.m. local time.

About 70% of Americans who shop at Wal-Mart live within 5 miles of a store, according to the company’s website. Customers have complained that buying groceries can take two-to-three hours on weekends.

“We’re now giving customers the gift of time and they’re getting hours back in their days,” said Ravi Jariwala, a spokesperson for the retailer.

Wal-Mart said 85% of shoppers using the service are repeat customers.

Additional stores will offer pickup service in the coming weeks, but the company isn’t sharing details about which stores or the timing. Online grocery shopping is also available internationally in Canada, the United Kingdom, Chile, Japan, and other countries.

Wal-Mart announced on Sept. 17 that, as part of its seasonal hiring, it would be adding department managers in 3,500 stores to help customers who are picking up purchases ordered online. The retailer plans to hire 60,000 workers for the holidays.

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